Sometimes being bold can bring you more
value than discussing the nitty gritty details
for months and then you find the answer
but by then the question has changed. This
is where we are trying to make a difference
and show we can move fast and increase
share in market and volume.
company profile 2021
company profile 2021
moving fast, so we have a discussion
about what to do but each one ends
with an action plan that we implement
and refine as we go, says Regis Pelerin,
Marketing Activation Manager for France
and Italy.
THE FRENCH MARKET
2.7%
points increase in market
share in France in May
WEEKEND WONDER
The focus was on getting customers to
overstock as there was an expectation
REGIS PELERIN
MARKETING ACTIVATION MANAGER
FRANCE AND ITALY
of hoarding, and to avoid out of stock
situations. Further to ensure customers
bought Scandinavian Tobacco Group
products to provide cash flow, which is
even more important in a crisis.
It was clear that people would have to
work remotely. Sales by telephone was the
obvious solution but it posed challenges
for reps and customers who were used
to dealing with each other in person.
This was addressed by providing a script
that covered the essentials and biweekly
meetings to assess how best to engage
with customers in this situation, and how
best to motivate reps who were working
under pressure.
scandinavian tobacco group
This was something that previously
might have taken us months to discuss
and implement, said Christian Grønbech,
VP Commercial Excellence. The team
and market in cooperation here was quite
fantastic they implemented new ways of
working over a weekend, introduced new
measurements and started to embed it in
the organisation. Change is a constant in
our industry, and when we face it and have
to react swiftly, we can actually do it.
20
By reacting swiftly and clearly and
supporting its sales reps, Scandinavian
Tobacco Group achieved two important
things increasing market share and
launching new products by phone, for
the first time. In May, there was a market
share increase in France of 2.7 %-points,
to 51.2%.
Importantly, market shares grew for the
top two brands, Signature and Meharis
and the main premium brand La Paz.
LEARN AND GO AGAIN
Of course, the first challenge was to keep
people safe. The second was, experienced
reps had no idea of how to interact with
their contacts by phone, including some of
the usual best performers.
This required training, regular monitoring
and sharing of best practice, as everyone
learnt from each other including basic
things such as avoiding calls during
lunchtime for many retailers. Perhaps
most important was regular check ins,
sometimes with a fun theme such as a
competition or a breakfast meeting with
a skiing theme, so people didnt feel
isolated from colleagues when working
from home.
Moving from monthly to weekly objectives
send a message to sales staff that no
one could predict the future, and targets
would be adapted as the situation became
clearer. Achievable volumes were set in
coordination with those on the ground,
because it was simply impossible to tell
how retailers would react and orders could
differ widely each week.
Firstly, sustainable growth is a
consequence of the right people with the
right equipment and right motivation
and that meant keeping everyone on
board and engaged and motivated in this
unknown situation, says Petersen.
Then its about agility. Each discussion
should end up with an action plan to show
we can move fast and increase share in
market and volume. You cant have a plan
100% ready to go in the current situation
its about execution. Try something and if it
fails, fail fast, learn from it and try again.
LAURIE RÆBILD
DIRECTOR TRANSFORMATION
MANAGEMENT OFFICE
JURJAN KLEP
PRESIDENT AND SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
EUROPE BRANDED DIVISION
INTEGRATION
THE KEY INGREDIENT
FOR A SUCCESSFUL
ACQUISITION
The acquisition of Agio Cigars is the largest in the history of Scandinavian
Tobacco Group. Once the deal was closed in 2020, the priority became integrating
quickly to efficiently add value to the combined business. The process is going
well, and there are some lessons which can be applied to future acquisitions.
scandinavian tobacco group
On Thursday 12 March, International
Channel Development Manager
Michael Seier Petersen and Competence
Development & Implementation Manager
Peter Brüggemann were appointed to
lead a COVID-19 taskforce. They had to
be ready to brief Scandinavian Tobacco
Groups markets on Monday 16 March on
how they were going to handle the coming
lockdowns across Europe.
Continues
21
OUR MUST- WIN BATTLE STORIES A TRANSFORMATION TO LEAD BUSINESS GROWTH P. 16 HOW TO SELL CIGARS IN A PANDEMIC P. 19 INTEGRATION THE KEY INGREDIENT FOR A SUCCESSFUL ACQUISITION P. 21 KEEP IT SIMPLE P. 24 PLANNING THE UNPLANNABLE P. 26
company profile 2021 company profile 2021 CONTENTS WELCOME 2020 has been an extraordinary year with COVID-19 changing our lives fundamentally and creating unprecedented challenges for businesses. PAGE 04 A TRANSFORMATION TO LEAD BUSINESS GROWTH Scandinavian Tobacco Groups North America Online & R
company profile 2021 WELCOME A GLOBAL LEADER IN CIGARS 2020 was yet another transformative year. We accelerated the modernisation of our company, announced the biggest acquisition in the history of our Group and launched a new strategy, Rolling Towards 2025. NIELS FREDERIKSEN President and CEO 2
These articles will give you a sense of the hard work, dedication and innovation of our employees, whose efforts are enabling us to overcome the unprecedented circumstances we are working in around the world, to create value for the company, our employees and shareholders. I hope you enjoy the read
company profile 2021 company profile 2021 OUR VALUE CHAIN 1 2 IT STARTS WITH A SEED All tobacco starts with a seed. The development of a tobacco plant depends on factors such as soil, sun, rain, position of the leaf on the tobacco plant and the time of harvesting. Our cultivation activities take p
NET SALES 8,006 DKK million EBITDA BEFORE SPECIAL ITEMS 6.6% Organic growth DKK million Organic Growth DKK million Organic growth DKK million 16% 6,000 4% 1,500 8% 4,000 0% 1,000 0% 2,000 -4% 500 -8% 0 2018 2019 -16% 2018 2019 FREE CASH FLOW BEFORE ACQUISITIONS NET PROFI
company profile 2021 OUR BRANDS AND PRODUCTS FINE-CUT TOBACCO Our handmade cigars are rolled at our sites in three of the worlds most significant tobacco-growing countries: the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua. Our fine-cut tobacco is predominantly manufactured at our site in Holstebro
In the course of 2020, we conducted a review of Scandinavian Tobacco Groups corporate strategy. The result was a new company profile 2021 company profile 2021 OUR STRATEGY PURPOSE VISION CRAFT THE RITUALS THAT MAKE US MORE BE THE UNDISPUTED, GLOBAL LEADER IN CIGARS updated strategy Rolling
company profile 2021 company profile 2021 Were bringing together responsiveness, design, loyalty and personalization to create an overall unique proposition, which is more sophisticated and provides a better consumer experience CASSANDRA SMELKO, DIRECTOR STRATEGY AND TRANSFORMATION, NORTH AMERICA
PURSUING NEW GROWTH The modernisation of the online platforms is being implemented in 17 workstreams, such as Personalized Marketing, Website Redesigns and Consumer Profiling. The five business units will address the unique preferences of the eight distinct consumer segments and their purchasing pa
Sometimes being bold can bring you more value than discussing the nitty gritty details for months and then you find the answer but by then the question has changed. This is where we are trying to make a difference and show we can move fast and increase share in market and volume. company profile 2
Scandinavian Tobacco Group aims to grow, strengthen its brand portfolio and leverage its costs through successful mergers and acquisitions, and the integration of its largest acquisition to date Agio Cigars, a leading European company with 3,200 employees bodes well for the future. In fact, as Sen
EMPOWERMENT AND AGILITY Data has become less transparent and processes have become more complicated as Scandinavian Tobacco Group has expanded through acquisition of familyowned companies, each using its own legacy system and data structures. The overall aim of these processes and structures is the
Across three continents, 14 production facilities and above 6,500 employees, the efforts of the Operations team have made Scandinavian Tobacco Group an industry leader in how to tackle the pandemic and ensure safe working conditions all while increasing production at the same time. The companys fac
company profile 2021 company profile 2021 2 BLEND OUR STRENGTHS OUR VALUES OUR PEOPLE TARAN SALABSKY DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE OPERATIONS Each individual throughout the Group has a unique skillset and perspective. Sharing these skillsets has been key to our past successes and will be instrumental in
RETAIL EXPANSION During 2020, we opened three new cigar Super-stores in the US; in Fort Worth, Texas and Tampa and Lutz, Florida. In 2020, we adopted our first CSR strategy focusing on four areas, each with its own defined ambitions, activities and goals. Those focus areas are: PEOPLE & COMMUNITI
SCANDINAVIAN TOBACCO GROUP A/S Sandtoften 9 2820 Gentofte Denmark CVR 31 08 01 85 Make www.st-group.com